My husband and I have decided to bring a tent, a 7-8 person tent in particular. My questions are these:*What are good ways to keep dust out of the tent?*What are good ways to keep the tent cool in the heat of the day, and warm in the cold of the night?*Rebar is obviously a great way to keep the tent from blowing away in the middle of a storm, but what are other ways to keep the tent from blowing away in the storms?*Without electricty, what are good ways to light/make the tent's presence known in order to keep others from wandering in?*What is the best way to add a shade-structure onto a tent?*What is the best way to clean a tent after a visit to the playa?

Thanks for your consideration, and I'm sure that there are plenty of threads related to this, but I want to be as specific to our tent as possible. We're borrowing it from family who are well aware of the damage it may receive - So we want to pleasantly surprise them by bringing it back in excellent condition.

Finxiekins wrote:My husband and I have decided to bring a tent, a 7-8 person tent in particular. My questions are these:*What are good ways to keep dust out of the tent?*What are good ways to keep the tent cool in the heat of the day, and warm in the cold of the night?*Rebar is obviously a great way to keep the tent from blowing away in the middle of a storm, but what are other ways to keep the tent from blowing away in the storms?*Without electricty, what are good ways to light/make the tent's presence known in order to keep others from wandering in?*What is the best way to add a shade-structure onto a tent?*What is the best way to clean a tent after a visit to the playa?

Thanks for your consideration, and I'm sure that there are plenty of threads related to this, but I want to be as specific to our tent as possible. We're borrowing it from family who are well aware of the damage it may receive - So we want to pleasantly surprise them by bringing it back in excellent condition.

Here are some suggestions

*What are good ways to keep dust out of the tent?put up your tent this weekend - have a look to see how much mesh there is. Work out a way of covering mesh - whether that he through duct tape and nylon cloth or through velcroing puts of cloth over the mesh.

*What are good ways to keep the tent cool in the heat of the day, and warm in the cold of the night?Shade structure to keep it cool(ish) for the morningYou can't do much (without setting up a swamp cooler) for the heat of the dayfor the cold nights - make sure you have good insulation between you and the ground. and wanrm clothes

*Without electricty, what are good ways to light/make the tent's presence known in order to keep others from wandering in?Solar "garden lights" strung up and over the tent and around the base of the tent. Cheapm, easy and effective.

*What is the best way to add a shade-structure onto a tent?Poles and tarps over the part of the tent facing the sun as it comes up.You could make a monkey hut. But if you are looking for the quick fix try poles and tarps.

*What is the best way to clean a tent after a visit to the playa?What is it made of - if 'washable" then a big washing machine at a laundromatte. Or hang it up and hose it down.

To keep the dust out of your tent, keep the window flaps closed as well as the "doors". I had some astro turf-like carpet in front of my tent door! It worked well! I brought a rug runner and put it along side my bed, so if I had a bit of dust on my feet, I could clean it off before climbing between the sheets!

To keep your tent cool, I was told you can but a pop up shade structure is good to have over your tent. And you can adds side tarps to help with shade and dust.

IMHO, I think rebar would be the best to keep a tent from flying off in a wind/dust storm. Plus strong, secured guy lines.

I was looking at lighting for this year too. Coleman makes a battery-operated lamp that 's pretty bright.

When I got home from the playa, I hosed down my tent and let it air dry for a couple of days. Worked well!

I hope this helps. I know there will be other examples for you!!

Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious.

For dust: Fleece throws over the mesh work really well. The best way I have found to hold them in place is with Shark-Bite fasteners and bungee cords. Also, take your shoes off before you enter, keep a rug or bathmat outside the door, and bring a small broom to sweep your tent and tarp every day. And keep your tent closed! Seriously! Do not leave the door unzipped at all ever. Have some place else to hang out during the day. Go out and enjoy the dust. It's really nice.

For washing, use a garden sprayer and add white vinegar to the water, this will cut the dust and keep it from sticking when it's wet.

For stability in high wind, you want guy lines well secured to rebar stakes.

Or you could put a nice aluminet monkey hut over a cheap tent and be a lot more comfortable & secure for less money. Just my $0.02.

"Burning Man ruined my life as I knew it, and I have never been happier." -mgb327

That's a very large tent for two people. If I understand you correctly, that must be 200 sq. feet or more. But,,, I know you have other things going on with your costume ideas, so understand your needs.

Will you have a large vehicle? Even a van or SUV parked south or southwest of your tent would enhance wind integrity. You can also use that vehicle to anchor your shade and then simply have two poles with guy lines on the opposite corners to hold it taught. You can use pipe insulation to cover the rope where it rubs against the painted surface of the vehicle.

If you make your shade area large enough, that should be where you spend your recreational time and only use the tent for rest and storage. I cannot really add anymore to what has already been said except when cleaning, just set it up and hose it down. Let it dry for a day or two in good sun and make sure to wipe the underside dry as you roll it for packing.

Might help to mention whether you've already read the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and searched the eplaya for relevant threads.

Kodiak, Springbar or similar family type tents are much more bombproof than typical shopping mall tents, and support draping shade cloth directly on top. Use the steel rod stakes provided -- actually, bring twice as many and put two in X-wise in place of one. Rebar is stupid for what most people try to do with it -- better in almost all cases are long steel rod pegs or V-shaped military surplus aluminum stakes (9" or 12") pounded flush with the ground surface. Any tent can be made to work, though.

Buy the tent, set it up, set up your kitchen & lounge furnishings, *then* figure out how big a shade awning you want.

Bob wrote:Might help to mention whether you've already read the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and searched the eplaya for relevant threads.

Kodiak, Springbar or similar family type tents are much more bombproof than typical shopping mall tents, and support draping shade cloth directly on top. Use the steel rod stakes provided -- actually, bring twice as many and put two in X-wise in place of one. Rebar is stupid for what most people try to do with it -- better in almost all cases are long steel rod pegs or V-shaped military surplus aluminum stakes (9" or 12") pounded flush with the ground surface. Any tent can be made to work, though.

Buy the tent, set it up, set up your kitchen & lounge furnishings, *then* figure out how big a shade awning you want.

Read the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and search the eplaya for relevant threads.

Did I mention reading the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and searching the eplaya for relevant threads?

Learn your knots.

Read my sigline.

I suppose I should have mentioned that I HAVE read the first-timers guide, searched the eplaya, and all of the above. I should have also clarified that I was mostly looking at how other people have done it and this was supposed to be more geared towards people's experiences with different methods. I apologize I did not clarify that, but your post seems kind of condescending. I've been researching for a while now, I just wanted to get multiple people's inputs and opinions.

It was not actually apparent from your original post how much reading you may have done on the subject, Finxiekins. (You did ask many simple questions that have been answered at length before.)

Bob and the others have given you a really nice amount of excellent advice with great patience. I hope the "tone" will not get to you too much, because it does come out when a person's amount of homework on a subject is anything less than clear.

*** 2017 Survival Guide ***"I must've lost it when I was twerking at the trash fence." -- BBadger

There have been a few questions I have asked that were snarkily answered with a http://lmgtfy.com/

It's probably a really good emotional weeding process. It reminds me of the scene in Fight Club where they try and convince the acolytes to leave.

It's not mean spirited, but it certainly lets you know that however inclusive BM is, not everyone is going to pamper your ass when you show up unprepared (to the playa or eplaya) or tell you how you are a brilliant and unique snowflake. Part of the issue, I think, is that if you spend time in other online boards or forums, many times there is no goodnatured ribbing. It's all trolls and assholes. So you are primed for total douchebag shit when someone responds in a way you didn't expect.

Finxiekins wrote:My husband and I have decided to bring a tent, a 7-8 person tent in particular. My questions are these:*What are good ways to keep dust out of the tent?*What are good ways to keep the tent cool in the heat of the day, and warm in the cold of the night?*Rebar is obviously a great way to keep the tent from blowing away in the middle of a storm, but what are other ways to keep the tent from blowing away in the storms?*Without electricty, what are good ways to light/make the tent's presence known in order to keep others from wandering in?*What is the best way to add a shade-structure onto a tent?*What is the best way to clean a tent after a visit to the playa?

Thanks for your consideration, and I'm sure that there are plenty of threads related to this, but I want to be as specific to our tent as possible. We're borrowing it from family who are well aware of the damage it may receive - So we want to pleasantly surprise them by bringing it back in excellent condition.

I'm a virgin, so I can tell you what I'm planning to do. No word on how effective it is yet. Also, I don't think you mentioned whether you would be driving or flying in. I'm flying in which necessitates some space and weight saving measures you might not need.

Kodiak Canvas Tent with a 10'x10' foot print. Extra military stakes and paracord so I can set up the small attached awning and guy it down.

Silver heavy duty tarps draped over tent and awning, guyed out tightly to ground and car. Space under tarp in between tent and car covered by tarp to keep coolers in the shade (and something to keep them raised off the ground). Shade mesh panel that is removable to add shade to side of awning. Carpet remnant or rug to wipe feet.

Bob wrote:Might help to mention whether you've already read the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and searched the eplaya for relevant threads.

Kodiak, Springbar or similar family type tents are much more bombproof than typical shopping mall tents, and support draping shade cloth directly on top. Use the steel rod stakes provided -- actually, bring twice as many and put two in X-wise in place of one. Rebar is stupid for what most people try to do with it -- better in almost all cases are long steel rod pegs or V-shaped military surplus aluminum stakes (9" or 12") pounded flush with the ground surface. Any tent can be made to work, though.

Buy the tent, set it up, set up your kitchen & lounge furnishings, *then* figure out how big a shade awning you want.

Read the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and search the eplaya for relevant threads.

Did I mention reading the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and searching the eplaya for relevant threads?

Learn your knots.

Read my sigline.

I realize now that I probably responded a bit rashly - I understand where you're coming from and I probably should have mentioned that I've read the guides. I'll make that clear in my post now:

I have read the many guides on the website and through google and such. I am looking rather for how people deal with these issues so that I can have all of my resources in one place. I'm sorry if my first post wasn't quite clear on that...

Savannah wrote:It was not actually apparent from your original post how much reading you may have done on the subject, Finxiekins. (You did ask many simple questions that have been answered at length before.)

Bob and the others have given you a really nice amount of excellent advice with great patience. I hope the "tone" will not get to you too much, because it does come out when a person's amount of homework on a subject is anything less than clear.

It's all good - I replied at work which is probably why I responded as such. Work tends to grate on my nerves and make me a bit more edgy than normal.

Bob wrote:Might help to mention whether you've already read the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and searched the eplaya for relevant threads.

Kodiak, Springbar or similar family type tents are much more bombproof than typical shopping mall tents, and support draping shade cloth directly on top. Use the steel rod stakes provided -- actually, bring twice as many and put two in X-wise in place of one. Rebar is stupid for what most people try to do with it -- better in almost all cases are long steel rod pegs or V-shaped military surplus aluminum stakes (9" or 12") pounded flush with the ground surface. Any tent can be made to work, though.

Buy the tent, set it up, set up your kitchen & lounge furnishings, *then* figure out how big a shade awning you want.

Read the first-timer's pages on the main Burning Man website, and search the eplaya for relevant threads.

This /is/ really good information though. My husband and I need to get the tent from the in-laws and plan on setting it up and sizing it up. I never thought rebar would be a problem, but it might be worth it to go to the army surplus down the street and seeing what I can find there.

@Trishntek - Amos and I will also be bringing our friend, Juanita from Australia. We're allowing extra room as well because we plan on inviting people back to our tent to smoke a bit of hookah and just chill. We were thinking of building a monkey hut as well and decking out as much as we can like an Arabian tent. Pillows and shit, all of that. We want to be able to share our little piece of the playa when we can and provide others with good ol' hospitality.

@MyDearFriend - I hadn't even thought of the broom, which is actually a very common-sense thing. Just goes to show how much you read and do homework it's the simple stuff that gets you!

*What are good ways to keep dust out of the tent?A good shade structure blocks a significant amount of dust. Next, make sure you're zipped up tight, both window flaps and entrance. Also, having a bit of carpet or some kind of mat at the outside of the entrance helps a lot.

*What are good ways to keep the tent cool in the heat of the day, and warm in the cold of the night?A good shade structure, ideally providing at least a foot clearance between the shade's roof and the top of the tent. As for cold, bring blankets, and get up off the ground (it cools down a lot at night).

*Rebar is obviously a great way to keep the tent from blowing away in the middle of a storm, but what are other ways to keep the tent from blowing away in the storms?Personally I don't care for rebar - pain in the ass to work with. Check the boards for alternatives.

*Without electricty, what are good ways to light/make the tent's presence known in order to keep others from wandering in?Solar lights are available at most hardware/garden stores, and let you easily mark your camp area.

*What is the best way to add a shade-structure onto a tent?Bad idea. Build a shade structure, and then set up your tent beneath.

*What is the best way to clean a tent after a visit to the playa?There are a number of threads about this, the same tips would apply.

melaniejane wrote:You can't do much (without setting up a swamp cooler) for the heat of the day

Adequate shade is all you need. Last year a few of our tents were set up in the shade of a semi trailer & got ZERO direct sunlight throughout the day. Those who were so inclined had no problem coming in at dawn and sleeping until sunset.

Bottom line is that for the infinite possibilities for your infrastructure, there are two concerns which SHOULD be number one for ANY tent situation:

1- Shade over the top and on three sides. Hopefully, at least 8' of overhead shade in front of your entrance. Without shade on sides, you will bake either in the morning or anytime except sun overhead. Three sides. Do not compromise.

2- Make the tent as impervious to dust as possible.

It is close to impossible to find a "cheap" family (ie: large) tent that can seal up completely. The industry has gone insane with putting mesh wherever it can, dependent, for normal camping, on a rain fly, which won't stop any dust on the playa. If you have money for the canvas tents, great, but having used a big cheapo Coleman WeatherMaster for 11 burns, it is likely that cheap tents, well staked, will not blow apart in the occasional huge winds.

Many suggestions in eplaya for closing up mesh.

However, if you choose velcro, do not get the "peel off the tape to expose glue" kind. And for sure you don't want to sew on velcro.

Only one Velcro for tents: Fusion Velcro. It is very strong and the Velcro's "hooks and eyes" are small enough that they do not get saturated with playa dust, therefore, the closure remains tight thru the week.

DoctorIknow wrote:Bottom line is that for the infinite possibilities for your infrastructure, there are two concerns which SHOULD be number one for ANY tent situation:

1- Shade over the top and on three sides. Hopefully, at least 8' of overhead shade in front of your entrance. Without shade on sides, you will bake either in the morning or anytime except sun overhead. Three sides. Do not compromise.

2- Make the tent as impervious to dust as possible.

It is close to impossible to find a "cheap" family (ie: large) tent that can seal up completely. The industry has gone insane with putting mesh wherever it can, dependent, for normal camping, on a rain fly, which won't stop any dust on the playa. If you have money for the canvas tents, great, but having used a big cheapo Coleman WeatherMaster for 11 burns, it is likely that cheap tents, well staked, will not blow apart in the occasional huge winds.

Many suggestions in eplaya for closing up mesh.

However, if you choose velcro, do not get the "peel off the tape to expose glue" kind. And for sure you don't want to sew on velcro.

Only one Velcro for tents: Fusion Velcro. It is very strong and the Velcro's "hooks and eyes" are small enough that they do not get saturated with playa dust, therefore, the closure remains tight thru the week.

1) Yeah, the more I read this the more I want to do a monkey hut over the tent. I'm sure even having a monkey hut would help to reduce, (although not prevent), the amount of dust entering the tent.

2) I'm pretty sure the parents tent does /not/ seal up completely. Would a tarp fixed tightly over the tent help with dust at all? I see a lot of things about fleece blankets, etc. - Is that because the type of fiber catches dust? I could see a tarp blocking dust pretty well, but there's also a high probability of dust finding its way into the cracks and into the tent, but a blanket would probably catch dust on its fibers. (Sorry, went on a tangent there.)

Also - GREAT advice on the velcro brand. If you wouldn't have said that, I'd probably just go buy the tape velcro.

I will be posting pictures of the tent in the coming weeks as well as using this thread to tailor questions and answers to the particular tent we're using. I'd also like it to be a build thread of sorts - Showing the process that we went through to get our shelter, as well as to get advice from people while we're doing the build so we can fix problems as needed. I hope you guys will stick around and help us come up with something truly practical.

Finxiekins wrote:Would a tarp fixed tightly over the tent help with dust at all? I see a lot of things about fleece blankets, etc. -

Quick answer: Absolutely not. If you are going to use any kind of tarp over your tent, it must have air between it and the tent.

Suggestion: Think of your tent as never being used for any other camping trip. The expense lost in getting a new default world tent is NOTHING compared to having a dust free/shaded tent on the playa.

I toyed with the idea of getting a viscous paint and just painting the damn mesh. Haven't seen any threads concerning mesh closure here where that's been done.

One would think that ventilation would be a problem in the heat out there, but not really, especially in a big tent, because when you don't want ventilation at all is during a dust storm. If there is no dust storm, you can open the windows or doors and won't need extra flaps or overhead mesh. Some use a blanket on the overhead mesh, but beware, as tying it down is tricky, and taking it off will make it's own dust storm which might filter thru the mesh, thus defeating the entire idea.

And, as said here already: NEVER leave your tent "open" as even that quick trip to the portapottie could turn into an adventure into some coffee serving fresh fruit providing chill space misted theme camp and then all of a sudden a dust storm.

My 2C. The monkey hut works very well for many people and is relatively easy to set up. I recommend making a long monkey hut putting your tent at one end and the lounge area on the other 1/2 or 3/4. Be aware of the location of the sun rise/set and plan the camp layout and contents of the monkey hut accordingly while also taking usual wind direction in to account.

I see that you are borrowing a tent. Sorry to be blunt but prepared to replace the tent upon your return. I completely destroyed my tent my first year from wind damage alone and I had my truck right next to it blocking the wind. It was one of those family style dome tents that you can stand up in. I hope you have the good fortune of not breaking the tent but the wind conditions on playa are very hard on "campground" type tents. It is all about how it sheds and resists wind forces. My small Walrus Dome tent does Awesome on the playa but it is only three feet tall and could nearly hold me up if I fell over on to it. Tents need to be really tough to hold their own on the playa. The only large tents I have seen that are bombproof on the playa are the Kodiak, Spring Bar and a wall tent with a metal frame(the kind that looks like a little house). Many many people use main stream camping tents and do ok though. Planning your wind breaks and putting the tent in a monkey hut will help. The tent is going to get dusty no matter what. There is no way around it. It is good to have a second line of dust defense in the tent so cover your entire bed with a sheet as soon as you get out of it. Kind of like always keeping the tent closed. Keep the bed totally covered when not in use. I like to have 2 sheets just for the purpose of keeping dust off of the bed. If one gets too dusty then I get the second one out. Cover other stuff you don't want dust falling on as well.I just throw my tent in the washing machine on a gentle cycle and then air dry it by setting it up and hanging it sideways in the garage. Realistically this is probably terrible for the tent but I have not seen ill effects from 3 or 4 washings.

Another way to do it would be to buy a tent and not have to worry about cleaning it or returning it in the same condition as when borrowed. You could just shake out the tent and pack it up so that there will be an awesome burst of playa dust the next time you get it out. Then you will breathe the dust in and say, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

I had a great day at work today building another Transient Exclusion Device under one of our bridges. Since we are also talking about work.

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Card Carrying Member BRCCP.

When you pass the 4th "bridge out!" sign; the flaming death is all yours.-Knowmad-

There is only so much you can do to attenuate dust. It's kind of like going stream fishing and expecting to keep your feet dry,,,, it ain't gonna happen. Do what you can, but expect everything you have to get dusty. We are only talking about degrees of dustiness. There is no absolute way to avoid it.

I have a Kodiak and it does indeed keep pretty damn clean with a bit of conscious effort. My other large tents used for camp mates who come by plane are 12X18 and 10X20 with 8' ceilings and large screened vents. MyDearFriend's idea of the blanket pulled tight over those vents does help. Sheets work too, but as has been said, the fibers on the blanket do trap more particles. When it comes time to pull them off at the end of the week, roll them off if possible. But honestly, by then you have pretty much embraced the dust and don't really give a shit.

Putting your tent under a monkey hut might help, but I agree with all the other people that say to buy yourself a cheap tent that will not be cried over when ruined.

I, myself have never used a tent on the playa (I use a cargo van). My sister used a tent the first year we went. She put it under the North Pole - and though she didn't have to stake it down very tightly (she used the regular plastic stakes), it was COMPLETELY dusted. As in - it will never be used for any other purpose than the playa. She had actually borrowed a second tent to put her stuff in but ended up just stacking everything behind and on the side of her tent (which again, though not wind blown, it was dusted beyond recognition). The borrowed tent stayed in it's bag and was returned in good condition (only because it wasn't used!).

My second year there were winds (2010) and I remember chuckling at a "campground" tent that was a stand-up 6 person, laying flat on the ground, stakes broken, after a big wind blew through.

Finxiekins wrote:Would a tarp fixed tightly over the tent help with dust at all? I see a lot of things about fleece blankets, etc. -

Quick answer: Absolutely not. If you are going to use any kind of tarp over your tent, it must have air between it and the tent.

Suggestion: Think of your tent as never being used for any other camping trip. The expense lost in getting a new default world tent is NOTHING compared to having a dust free/shaded tent on the playa.

I toyed with the idea of getting a viscous paint and just painting the damn mesh. Haven't seen any threads concerning mesh closure here where that's been done.

The blanket idea is in part, mine. It is NOT for keeping the tent cool, but when clipped properly to the top of a tent, it does indeed seal the mesh. We fold ours in half, clip it to the poles in several places, and then is covered by a comforter, also clipped on, and it very effectively keeps out the dust. In 11 years, I have NEVER slept in a dusty tent. We used a small REI tent which only had two mesh vents on top. Worked on the four person Coleman we brought one year (which died at our regional in the wind). However, what a blanket filter does NOT do is provide shade or cooler temps. That's what our carport is for; a monkey hut would do as well.

The zippers on our tent were getting sad, it is over 20 years old. So we got one without roof vents. Sets up in a minute. We do drape/clip it with a comforter, as it provides a bit of night time insulation and blocks random light pollution. We do not use the rainfly, useless thing for us. Under a carport, we can easily sleep until late morning in it.